[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Solace

Does it matter if they get him Bin Laden style, if the people inside are still being held "hostage"?

I would find it highly unrealistic for this to not have a massive fallout worldwide. We're only talking 10 years here. It's not like this is set in the far-flung future.

Granted, there is what Haruyasha just brought up, but even if its effect is localized to just one nation, it would be the leading news story throughout the entire world and it is on the level of a massive terrorist attack.

People all over the world would want this man caught and brought to justice due to his atrocious crimes and the rather severe threat he obviously poses.

It would definitely start an international manhunt. Interpol would be over this instantly.

I think you give our agencies too much credit.

Why do you think that I'm giving them too much credit? The US did in fact get bin Laden. The US also did get Saddam Hussein. A lot of the top people in al-Qaeda have been wiped out.

I can't think of any recent criminal of this stature, with his name and profile out there, that has managed to avoid capture permanently.

If this guy is that much of a megalomaniac, he has likely ensured that any attempt to stop the game would immediately kill all players.

Well, sure. I'm not saying that catching him will save the players. If this guy is smart, he's prepared to get captured and/or killed, and there may not be a way to get people out of this game safely (without them beating the game, of course).

But saving the players is not the only reason why this guy should be hunted down, of course.

Even so, I'm not getting the feeling that the story outside of the game matters much, outside of explaining how the characters got stuck there and why this "MMO" is serious business (kind of hard to feel bad for a character death if they can just resurrect, right?). The story certainly wasted no time dumping the characters into the game world, so I don't think there is going to be a dual track plot of "in game" and "out of game" where you see characters struggling to stay alive in SAO while other characters struggle to find a way to free them outside of the game.

I expect that you're right here, and I do find that at least a bit disappointing. The "real world" side of this could be very, very intriguing to watch unfold, imo.

If it is left entirely unaddressed, then I will consider that a significant flaw against the anime. It's simply not something that should be overlooked if you're pitching a premise as extreme as this one is, in my opinion.